About 56 percent of all anxiety happens at work. Anxiety isn’t the same as stress. Stress is a response to an external event that goes away when we handle the problem. Anxiety needs no outside stimulus to exist. It is a feeling of constant dread that is very draining. The anxiety wears us out, our productivity drops, and then we chastise ourselves; more anxiety ensues and the cycle repeats.

Try these ideas to overcome anxiety.

• Reframe the feelings into excitement, and use that energy to produce.

• Accept the anxiety rather than waste time and energy fighting it.

• Unplug devices. This will limit distraction and allow us to produce more. We all have a limited amount of willpower, so giving the task our complete focus makes it more likely it will get done.

• Break a big task down into smaller steps. Check off micro tasks when done and celebrate each accomplishment. This creates a win psychologically. Small achievements lead to bigger ones.

• Ask for clear feedback from employers. Knowing that we are heading in the right direction on a big project lowers anxiety.

• Listen to your body. Our body is constantly giving us signals of what serves and doesn’t serve us. If we are in a work place that doesn’t utilize our unique gifts and talents or doesn’t value and appreciate our dignity, it may be time to move on.

• Have the nervous system adjusted by a tonal chiropractor. Fight or flight from past unresolved trauma can more easily be set off and will make us overreact to normal everyday stressors.

Dr. Joanne Haupert, chiropractor at Inspired Healing Chiropractic, has been helping people with anxiety for decades. She gives monthly presentations on this and other topics. Connect at 520-584-0343, [email protected] or InspiredHealing.org.